Day One - In A Half

Ok.  First post.  I have never even really read a blog let alone written one.  Well, here goes. 

So Todd and I left Friday.  Todd is tagging along to help me drive and will hang out till Saturday.  He they flies home. 

It started on a down note.  Todd didn't think he could go.  So we waited an extra couple hours and finally got out of Dodge.  We drove to St. Louis on one tank of gas.  In a Durngo that's pretty good.  We parked two blocks from our exit off of I70 but fifteen miles from Busch Stadium.  We had to hoof it.  Then when we get there the nice helper lady sent us to the wrong side of the stadium.  We got to the entrance to our section just in time to hear the many Cubs' fans chearing the first two runs of the game.  Cubs up 2-0.  We made our seats and anticipated an evening of unbridaled Cubs scoring.  What did we get?  Cubs loose 3-2 on a walk off home run with two outs in the bottom of the 9th. 

Now we have to walk all the way back to Kansas City to get to the truck.  We make it and get in.  Now I had purchased, several months ago, a TomTom to help on my trip.  I even downloaded Burt Reynold's voice to assist me in my travelings.  Unfortunately Burt Reynolds, on occasion, is absolutely no help whatsoever.  For those of you who have seen National Lampoons European Vacation you'll know what I'm talking about when I say "Big Ben, Parliament".  I knew where I70 should be but Burt Reynolds kept sending me to other places.  About an hour later we hopped on I70 and left Westbound and down for Las Vegas. 

So we drive straigh though to Vegas.  Not the smartest thing to do but we did it.  And we made it.  However Burt Reynolds tried to make me drive off a ramp to take a street that does not, nor has ever as far as I could tell, exist.  So we lef St. Louis at midnight and strolled into the hotel parking lot in North Las Vegas at 1:30am the next morning.  Yes yes, I know, stupid.  But we did it and you can't take that away from us!

Now for some neat stuff.  If you have never driven I70 West through Colorado and Utah I HIGHLY recomend it.  The sights that we saw were breathtaking.  I can't describe it in just a few lines or in just a few pages because I could never do it justice.  The many different types of geologcal sights we saw were truly amazing.  I had seen them before.  I had flown over them many times.  But until you take them in at eye level you can't imagine the beauty that nature created.  I would challenge the hardest athiest to look on what I saw and say that there is no God.  When my son is old enough to understand and appreciate it I am taking my entire family out west to experience what most of society overlooks.

Ok.  So we made it to Vegas but Burt Reynolds tried to kill me.  Now we decide to go eat.  So we stop at Del Taco.  It was actually really good.  Nothing to report there.  But when we returned to the hotel we are on the second floor. 

Some back story.  My wife packed the truck with my stuff.  It is packed to the ends.  She had to also pack my sleep over clothes in two different bags to get them to fit into he Durango and still give Todd enough room for his stuff too.  Now, Sharon can pack a laptop into a matchbook.  She definately has skill.  But when it came time to get these bags from the truck it wasn't so skillfull.  The bags were overpacked and very heavy.  Not only did I have them but I had my laptop backpack with all the trimmings.  When it was all said and done and I figured out how to get them all picked up I looked like a bellhop carrying up the Clampets linens and critters.  For those of you who don't get that reference you cannot never read my blog again. 

Anyway.  I'm here and safe and that's what matters.  I am so tired I can't keep my eyes from itching.  It's off to bed.  I will try to write again tomorrow night.

I hope you all have a great day!